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The international Happy Schools pilot concludes, a global initiative led by UNESCO and developed in five countries through the international Design for Change (DFC) movement. Over six months, students from around the world have designed and implemented creative solutions to improve well-being in their communities, with the goal of building happier, more inclusive, and more humane educational environments.
Each of the five pilot countries adapted the project to its local context, applying the Design for Change methodology aligned with the four pillars of UNESCO’s Happy Schools framework: People, Processes, Places, and Principles. Through this experience, hundreds of students identified real challenges related to well-being, inclusion, and participation, and carried out transformative initiatives in their schools and communities.
Gwang-Chol Chang, Chief of Education Policy at UNESCO Headquarters, emphasized the importance of the global pilot and the potential of the Happy Schools approach to address today’s educational challenges: “UNESCO has launched the Happy Schools initiative as a way to respond to the learning and well-being crisis affecting a growing number of education systems. We are pleased to see that the Happy Schools framework, through its four pillars, can genuinely contribute to improving the learning experience and outcomes by creating more inclusive, supportive, and joyful educational environments, and by reclaiming one of the school’s essential functions: socialization.”
In Spain, the initiative was coordinated by Design for Change España and implemented in SEK Ciudalcampo and SEK El Castillo International Schools, as well as Nuestra Señora de la Consolación School in Villacañas. Inspired by UNESCO’s Happy Schools framework, the project at SEK El Castillo titled “We Recycle for a Better World and for the Future of the Next Generations” empowered students to raise awareness about the increase in solid waste, support younger children in improving self-management skills, and provide mentoring or tutoring.
In other countries such as Malaysia, Zambia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bhutan, students worked on topics such as healthy eating, access to basic materials, and the creation of safe spaces. Participating schools included SOKA International (Malaysia), GEMS Modern Academy (Dubai), and ELC School (Bhutan), among others. Although the project could not be completed in Kenya, Lebanon, and Serbia due to sociopolitical circumstances, learning exchanges between countries continued through monthly online meetings.
The pilot was supported by UNESCO as a global advisor and collaborated with the Faculty of Education at Camilo José Cela University (UCJC), which led the research to evaluate student and teacher participation in school and community projects, their involvement in decision-making, the development of student leadership, and their awareness of the need for change. The main objective was to analyze how these factors contribute to transforming schools into happier, more inclusive spaces focused on the well-being of the entire educational community.
Design for Change España was responsible for coordinating the pilot, drawing on its experience and commitment to designing youth-led well-being solutions, particularly through the European H2020 project IN-HABIT (INclusive Health And Wellbeing In small and medium-sized cities), which has been identifying innovative and integrated solutions to promote inclusive health and well-being in small and medium-sized cities since 2020.
Although the pilot officially ended on April 22, its learnings and resources remain available to any school wishing to join and apply the DFC methodology under the Happy Schools framework.
“We want every school to become a center of well-being and transformative action, where students can confidently say: I Can,” state representatives from DFC.
